Motor fuel



Patented Mar. 14,1922.

2 SHEETS- SHEET 1.

A. 'SfRAIVIAGEl MOTOR FUEL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 27, 1921.

A. S. RAMAGE.

MOTOR FUEL.

APPLICATION FIL-ED OCT. 27, 1921.

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l ALEXANDER S. RAMAGE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK F. BEAL, SAID ALEXANDER S. RAMAGE, AND BENJAMIN BRISCOE, ALL OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, TRUSTEES, KNOWN AS CHEMICAL RESEARCH SYNDICATE, LTD.

MOTOR FUEL.

Continuation of application a citizen of the United States, residing atY Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Motor Fuels, of which the ollowing is a specification.

This invention is a novel product suitable for use as motor fuel, said product consisting, in its undiluted or nonblended state, chiefly or largely of polymethylene bodies or partially or completely saturated cyclic hydrocarbons of higher boiling point and molecular weight than cyclohexane (08H12). My invention comprises the said hydrocarbon product alone, or mixed or blended with other hydrocarbons, whether saturated or unsaturated, said mixtures being suitable for' use as motor fuels.

The said product is prepared in the manner set forth in my co-pending application Serial No. 440,7 43, filed January 28, 1921, of which the present application is a continuation.

According to the process described inthe said application, briefly summarized, hydrocarbon vapors, derived for example from heavy fuel or crude oils, including those of f asphaltic type, are admixed with steam, and

the mixture is caused to flow over ferrous oxid (FeO) in tubes maintained at a temperature which should not be substantially below 550 C., the proportion of steam to cease.

hydrocarbon being so regulated as to maintain the oxid substantially in the ferrous condition. As pointed out in the said speciication it is necessary to regulatecarefully the proportion of steam to oil. Ifftoo much steam is supplied the ferrous oxid will undergo oxidation to ferrie oxid, which will accumulate, and the production of the desired li ht saturated hydrocarbons will soon gif too little steam is supplied there will be a tendency to reduction 'of the ferrous oxid to metallic iron, which will result in the deposition of carbon in the tubes. Accordingly I so adjust the proportion between the hydrocarbon vapor and the steam as to avoid material oxidation of the ferrous oxid to ferric oxid on the one h and, or material reduction of metallic iron on the other. It

is important also to avoid the formation ofv Specioation of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 440,743, led January 28, 1921. cation filed Uctober 27, 1921.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

Patent No. 1,403,194. This appli- Serial No. 510,891.

which may tend .to form in case the temperature 1s not suiiclently maintained.

A form of apparatus suitable for carrying the process into effect, as well as the pre-v ferred manner of operating the apparatus, are described and illustrated in my co-pendmg application above referred to hence that descr1pt1on neednot be here repeated.

The reactions taking place in the tube are undoubtedly very complicated, involving perhaps several simultaneous reactions: among such'reactions the following are believed to occur, although no limitation of the invention is to be inferred therefrom:

The steam reacts with the ferrous oxid formlng ferrie oxid and hydrogen, the latter 1n hlghly reactive or nascent form: the ferr1c oxid is at once re-reduced to ferrous oxid by the hydrocarbon vapors with formation of carbon, hydrogen and hydrocarbons of a lower degree of saturation and probablyv of simpler constitution and lower boiling point. These unsaturated hydrocarbons react under the operatingconditions with the hydrogen derived from `the steam, thevproduct -being 'i light hydrocarbons, mostly of the saturate cychc type (cycloparailns or polymeth Ilenes). The oxygen from the steam u timately appears largely as carbon monoxid dominating .proportions of cycloparaiiins or polymethylene bodies of higher boiling oint and presumably therefore of higher mo ecular weight' than cyclohexane. This latter substance, as is well known, may be prepared by hydrogenation of benzol in presence 0f a catalyst.

The motor spirit produced in the manner described yields upon distillation a series of factions of which a large proportion, usua' .y

amounting to 90% or over, are'comd prlsed between the boiling point limits of varies according to the temperature in the tube, the higher temperatures tendinigT larger proportions offthe low boiling tions.

For a fuller understanding of the invention reference is made to the drawings accompanying this application, Figs. 1 and 2 being charts.

gravities and vrefractive indices Referring to Fig. 1, the curves A and B represent a standard distillation cut of a typical motor spirit according to my invention. The motor spirit represented by curve A hada specific gravity of .7853 (48,3

B.) and that by curve B a specific gravity of .Z882 (48.5 In contrast with this, a high test commercial gasoline yielding a similar distillation curve will have a specific gravity of about .73 (61 B.). A characteristic of my product is therefore an extremely high gravity, consideringits high volatility.

Fig. 2 is a chart indicating lthe specific of corresponding fractions from:

1. Amotorspirit prepared in accordance with my process from a California crude oil having an asphaltic base (curves S and 2. A motor spirit prepared by my process from a Mid-Continental gas oil having a paraiin base (curves S2 and R2) 3. A typical commercial gasoline consisting chleiiy of parafiins with a minor proportion of unsaturated bodies (curves S and re and RB).

In each case the curve marked S represents the specific gravit in terms of the Baume scale for liquids ighter than water, andthe curve marked R the refractive iiidex. The extremely close correspondence in the hysical properties, specific gravity flfactive index, of the fractions prepared by my process, irrespective of the nat recise temperatures ture 'of the ori 'nal raw material, will be observed; also t at in respect to these pro erties the material differs widely from t e type of commercial gasoline represented by efcurves Ss and R3. The product has proven on practical test to give excellent results as a" motor fuel for internal combustion engines, yielding'r some 25% additional power er unit of volume as compared with stan ard. gasoline. motfuel use I prefer to employ the new motor spirit without admixture or blending with other hydrocarbons, although as above stated I regard the product when so mixed or blended as within the scope of my invention. The unblended distillate as prepared and used by me exhibits in a typical case, a boiling point range of about 40 to about 180 C.; a specific '.78 (49 B.) `to .80 (45 Be.) and a refractive index in the neighborhood of 1.44.,

1. A novel liquid hydrocarbon mixture suitable for use as motor fuel, consisting chiefly of polymethylene bodies of higher boiling point that cyclohexane, said mixture having a boiling point range of about 40- 180 C.; a specific gravity of about .7S-.80; and a refractive index of about 1.44 and yielding by fractionation, fractions having the Specic gravity, refractive indices, and distillation characteristics as shown in the accompanying charts.

2. A novel liquid hydrocarbon mixture suitable for use as a motor fuel such as is produced by the `herein described process comprisin *subjecting heavy hydrocarbons in vapor orm and admixed with steam to .the action of an iron compound substantially ALEXANDER s. RAMAGE.

For

gravity of about 

